Dockhold Dashboard

Custom domains

Serve an app on a domain you own, with HTTPS handled for you. Add one DNS record and Dockhold does the rest.

Every app gets a free dockhold.app URL. When you're ready to go live on your own name, point a domain at your app from its Domains tab. Dockhold verifies the domain, issues a certificate, and serves your app over HTTPS. You can point several domains at the same app.

Custom domains are available on any paid plan, that is, any account that has bought compute. Once you've added capacity you can add a domain from any app's Domains tab.

Adding a domain

  1. Add it. Open your app, go to the Domains tab, and enter the domain (for example www.mysite.com).
  2. Create one DNS record. The tab shows the exact record to create at your DNS provider, with the type, name, and value to copy. For a subdomain like www that's a CNAME pointing at connect.dockhold.app.
  3. Wait for it to go live. Once your DNS change is visible, Dockhold issues the certificate and flips the domain to live. The tab updates on its own, so you can watch it move from waiting, to issuing, to live.

Use the "Where is your domain registered?" picker for a click-path to the right screen at common registrars. There's nothing to install and no IP address to manage: connect.dockhold.app always points at the right place, even if our addresses change.

Apex domains (mysite.com with no www)

A bare apex like mysite.com can't use a CNAME (the DNS spec doesn't allow it). The easiest path is to run your app on www.mysite.com and turn on domain forwarding from the apex to the www version at your registrar, which most registrars offer for free. If your DNS provider supports ALIAS, ANAME, or CNAME flattening, you can point the apex straight at connect.dockhold.app instead. The Domains tab shows the right record either way.

How HTTPS works

Certificates are issued automatically over the standard ACME HTTP challenge, which means your DNS has to point at us before a certificate can be issued. That's why the order is verify first, then issue. Once a domain is live, renewal is automatic and you never touch a certificate.

On Cloudflare, set the record's proxy status to DNS only (the grey cloud) so the certificate can be issued. The orange-cloud proxy intercepts the challenge.

Moving a live site over with no downtime

Already serving real traffic on the domain and want a clean cutover? You can prove ownership ahead of time with a TXT record, so Dockhold issues the certificate before you flip the main record. The Domains tab shows the optional TXT challenge alongside the main record. Add it first, let the domain reach the issuing step, then switch the CNAME when you're ready.

If your plan changes

Custom domains follow the same rule as private apps. If a payment fails, your domains keep serving through the grace window while you sort it out. If you cancel and drop back to the free plan, the domains stop serving and fall back to the dockhold.app URL. Add compute again and you can re-point them.